American Foundation for Equal Rights

Day Seven of Prop. 8 Trial

DAY SEVEN OF PROP. 8 TRIAL/AVAIL INFO

Trial on Unconstitutionality of Prop. 8 Begins Day Seven in U.S. District Court;
For latest information, visit www.equalrightsfoundation.org
The federal trial over the unconstitutionality of Proposition 8 will continue Wednesday, January 20 at 8:30 am. The legal team, led by Theodore Olson and David Boies, will continue to illustrate the discrimination and negative impact of the initiative.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights launched the Perry v. Schwarzenegger case and brought together Olson and Boies to lead the litigation.

The court has so far been presented with compelling testimony from gay men and lesbians about the discrimination they have experienced first-hand, in addition to eminent experts from Yale, Cambridge, Harvard, UCLA and other prestigious institutions who have testified to the harm caused by Prop. 8 and the lack of a justification for its denial of fundamental rights, creating a powerful, fact-based record of evidence pointing to the unconstitutionality of Prop. 8.

Testifying today under the direct examination of City Attorney Dennis Herrera was Jerry Sanders, the current Republican Mayor and former Police Chief of the City of San Diego. He spoke about his decision, as Mayor, to support the City of San Diego’s participation in an amicus brief advocating against the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage and why he concluded supporting marriage equality was and is in the best interest of local government and the larger community (powerful video of that announcement can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAOkwjQdm6Q).

“If government tolerates discrimination against anyone it is very easy for citizens to do the same thing,” Sanders testified in court.

“I had been prejudiced,” Sanders testified in reference to his previous opposition to marriage equality. “I was saying one group of people did not deserve the same respect, did not deserve the same symbolism of marriage, and I was saying their marriages were less important than those of heterosexuals.”

“I think denying marriage equality is just as wrong as telling blacks that they couldn’t use white-only drinking fountains.  It’s government action that’s founded in prejudice,” Sanders said to reporters at the courthouse.  “The first step towards equality in society is equality under the law.”

Testifying after Sanders was M.V. Lee Badgett, Ph.D., a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who spoke about the harm caused by Prop. 8.

“Prop. 8 has inflicted substantial economic harm on same-sex couples and their children who live here in California,” Badgett testified. “I have the opinion that letting same-sex couples marry would not have any adverse effect on the institution of marriage or on different sex couples.”

Taking the stand tomorrow will be:

- Ryan Kendall, a gay man who will testify about the “conversation therapy” he underwent in his youth and how he has been affected by discrimination

-Gary M. Segura, Ph.D,Professor of American Politics in the Department of Political Science at Stanford University. He will testify about the relative political power of gays and lesbians as a class of citizens, and their level of political vulnerability.

###